Morehouse School of Medicine's (MSM) long range goal for the COE Research Endowment is to utilize the support in two key ways: (1) to enhance the research infrastructure to the level of increased capacity and research competitiveness presently accorded to research intensive academic institutions and (2) to leverage these funds, over time, to acquire additional extramural and private support. To achieve these goals, MSM proposes to use the requested funds to strengthen research capacity in cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, mental health, to support the research endeavors of students and faculty in graduate training programs and to assist in the recruitment and retention of minority scientists in the aforementioned research areas. In just two decades, MSM has established a basic framework for a robust research enterprise as noted by the creation of the Neuroscience Institute, the Cardiovascular Research Institute, the Clinical Research Center, and the National Center for Primary Care and the Prevention Research Center. In addition to these institutes and centers, MSM has established programs in space medicine, a cooperative reproductive science research center, and implemented plans for a stroke center as well as a comprehensive center on health disparities that will capture and unify research aimed at eliminating gaps in health status. These ongoing research efforts are occurring in a dynamic and exciting arena of class size expansion, the development of a new graduate program focused on clinical research that supplements the existing graduate programs and the progressive developments in the medical education, public health and biomedical science programs. The specific aims for this proposal are: (1) to recruit and retain eminent scholars and mid-level investigators using endowment funds as a continuous source of support, (2) to expand and strengthen capacity building with the enhancement of new and existent research areas, and (3) to support research focused graduate programs leading to the MPH, PhD and MS in clinical research.